Homeward Bound
by FallenQueen2
Summary: Season 2 AU-Lance got separated from Hunk when they fell into the wormhole. He ended up someplace he longed to be, but he needed to decide where his heart truly lied. COMPELETE


**Homeward Bound**

 **Voltron Legendary Defenders**

 **Lance got separated from Hunk when they fell into the wormhole. He ended up someplace he longed to be, but he needed to decide where his heart truly lied.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron Legendary Defenders**

 **Homeward Bound**

Lance groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, his head throbbing and his vision tinted with flashing red lights.

"Blue? Hey girl are you with me?" Lance asked, weakly gripping the thrusters by his seat he was slumped forward in. Body sore and aching like it had when he first started training with the team.

Lance felt the weak presence of Blue in the back of his mind, he could tell she was hurt and exhausted much like him.

"It'll be okay Blue, I'll take care of us." Lance promised, protective instincts flaring to life as he forced himself to read the warnings that appeared on the view screens around him. He noted the desert surroundings that looked familiar to him for some reason before the words on the screen caught his attention further.

"No way, that can't be right… How can we be back on Earth?" Lance whispered, heart pounding so hard he thought it would jump out of his chest. Blue sent a wave of understanding to Lance feeling his monsoon of emotions like they were her own. She too was connected to Earth as she spent years there awaiting her Paladin.

"If we are back on Earth then the Garrison will be on it's way and I can't let them get a hold of you Blue. Come on girl we need to find someplace for you to hide until I can figure something out." Lance tugged lightly at the controls, wincing when Blue lumbered to her claws and started to trudge towards a nearby crevice that looked wide enough for Blue to drop down and be hidden safely.

Lance felt the impact in his very bones making him slump back and release his hold on the thrusters. He tugged his helmet off to run his fingers through his hair letting out a sigh as he swiped his hand across the air in front of him allowing an Altean blue screen appear.

"So our location is close to where we found you in the first place, which means that shack Keith was living in should be nearby. I might be able to scrounge up some parts I can use to figure out some sort of beacon the Castle can track." Lance planned aloud as he tapped at the communication button, but all he got was unnerving static.

"I better get moving, will you be okay on your own Blue? Can you put your particle barrier up?" Lance smoothed his hands over the thrusters getting an offended purr.

"What am I saying, of course you got this. I'll be back soon I promise Blue." Lance reassured her as he put his helmet back down, he made sure his Bayard was on his hip. He rose up out of the hatch on top of Blue's head and activated his suit's thrusters and leapt into the air. The power behind the thrusters carried him to the top of the mini canyon.

Lance landed softly, sending up a wave of sand and dust as he did so. He looked around the helmet tinting to deal for the glare of the bright sun.

"I can't believe I'm back here, I'm home." Lance breathed out, feeling his eyes prickle with tears.

"Focus Lance, you got to focus." Lance shook his head as he used the thrusters to push him back into the air. He looked around from the added height and stopped the outline of something that didn't belong in the barren desert.

Lance turned his body in that direction and let his suit do the rest as he flew toward Keith's old place. He touched down in front of the house before grabbing his Bayard letting it transform into his gun, you could never be too careful.

The door was open and Lance heard rustling inside of Keith's old home and every part of Lance's body tensed up. Focusing like he did when he was on a mission as he slipped through the open door and trained his gun on the back of the man that was shifting through some of Keith's notes on the marks he found when searching for Blue.

"Don't move an inch." Lance said in a steady voice, mouth set in a frown. The man froze and slowly raised his hands up in surrender. "Turn around, slowly and don't try anything."

The man did as Lance ordered him to and Lance felt his breath get caught in his throat when the man showed his face.

"Keith?" Lance muttered quietly, but not quietly enough if the shock on the Keith lookalikes face was anything to go by.

"You know my son?" The man asked, lower lip trembling a tad.

"Son, oh my god! You're Keith's father!" Lance lowered his gun letting it turn back into his Bayard he put on his hip. He tugged his helmet off his head, shaking his brown hair free as he kept his eyes on Keith's father.

"You, you're one of those missing Garrison Cadets. Lance McClain?" Keith's father stared at him in shock.

"The one and only, don't worry the last I saw of your son he was safe." Lance said quickly, reassuring the parent in front of him. His mind flashing back to Keith taking on Zarkon, he had to be hurting wherever he was now. They all must be and it hit Lance in the gut that he rather be with them then back on Earth.

"Lance, Lance? Are you back with me?" Suddenly Keith's face was right there, hand firm on Lance's shoulders making Lance realize he spaced out and his body was trembling.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Lance breathed out, shaking his head taking a step away from the older man.

"Okay, I'm Kade Kogane." Kade held his hand out, that concerned look still on his face.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Kogane and Quiznak that sounds weird to say aloud. I mean we all figured Keith was an orphan and he never really said much about his past." Lance shook Kade's hand, laughing nervous noticing how Kade's face froze up when he picked up on Lance's not so subtle use of what Keith thought he was. Lance filed that away for future use and hoped he could get some answers for Keith about why his father left him and what about his mother?

"How did you get here, are you alone?" Kade asked looking back at Keith's wall of notes and maps.

"Yeah it was on accident actually and I came here hoping Keith had some parts I could turn into something that might help me contact the others." Lance scanned the room looking for anything that might help.

"Nothing here is salvageable, just notes from my son that make no sense." Kade sighed, crossing his arms looking so much like Keith that it felt like Lance had been punched in the gut.

"Damn and I can't stay long. I crashed here and that means the Garrison is right behind me." Lance warned Kade as an alert sounded from his helmet. Lance pulled it back on and frowned when an alert of oncoming heat signatures appeared in the right corner.

"I was right, you need to leave. I saw what they did to Shiro when he landed and I don't want you apart of this, Keith would kill me." Lance stepped back towards the door before making a choice. He pulled his Bayard and helmet off, shoving them into Kade's hands making the man blink in shock.

"Keep an eye on those for me? Thanks!" Lance waved at Kade as he ran out off the door, his thrusters starting up again to give him a bit of a boost when moving.

It didn't take long for the shack to disappear behind him and the approaching Garrison squads to appear in front of him, kicking sand up behind them. Lance landed and raised his hands in surrender knowing it would be better to give him self up then leading them back to Blue and letting them get their hands on her.

He stayed calm as the vehicles surrounded him and soldiers got out, guns aimed at him. He raise an eyebrow as Commander Iverson of all people stepped out of one of the tanks and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Cadet Lance McClain as I live and breathe." Iverson said, voice stony and as per usual Lance couldn't tell what the man was thinking.

"Commander, fancy meeting you here." Lance sassed, unable to help him self.

"He is covered in radiation Commander, much like the kind Takashi Shirogane emitted." One of the soldiers informed Iverson, breathlessly. Lance wanted to roll his eyes; they were just picking up on the Altean tech in his flight suit. It protected them from exactly that when they were in space and on different planets.

"How did you get here Cadet?" Iverson shouted at Lance. Lance once upon a time would have cringed but he had dealt with much worse than Commander Iverson.

"Funny story about a wormhole and a space ship." Lance smirked, he was being truthful but they didn't need to know that.

"Are you alone or are Cadet Gunderson, Cadet Garrett, Keith Kogane and Takashi Shirogane with you?" Iverson asked, his own smirk on his face making Lance's turn serious as he glared at the man who thought he knew so much.

"Like I would tell you that and I'm pretty damn sure we all have surpassed the Cadet status by now." Lance snarked, he felt the presence of a solider behind him having been snuck up on enough times. He let it happen but it did nothing to dull the sting of a sedative being injected in his neck. He closed his eyes and let it take hold; he knew he had to let this play out. He needed to know what the Garrison knew and maybe snag some parts he could use to help Blue make a beacon to the others.

~~/~~

Every part of Lance's body felt heavy, even his eyelids as he forced them open as awareness came back to him. He tensed lightly and felt an IV needle in his right hand. He was staring up at a white ceiling and heard a steady beeping beside his ear. He let his head loll to the side to stare at the IV stand that was pumping liquids into his blood stream. He didn't feel like he was in pain, he didn't feel horrible either. He felt sluggish and like everything was underwater.

"There you are Cadet, don't worry when you wake up properly you'll feel good and very talkative." Iverson appeared in Lance's sightline making the still out of it teen scowl, as he understood the Commander's words.

"Like hell, just you wait. In a few ticks I'll be getting out of here." Lance slurred and felt good at seeing the confused look on Iverson's face when he heard the Altean's measure of time.

"Doubtful, you are going to tell us everything even things you wouldn't tell your own mother am I understood?" Iverson growled, hand wrapping around Lance's wrist tightly. Lance winced under the pressure as his senses were coming back to his body.

"Don't count on it, so what did you tell the world? You couldn't use the same line you did with the Kerberos mission?" Lance spat out, taking pleasure in seeing the way Iverson's face screwed up at the reminder.

"Don't press your luck McClain, I can make you hurt in ways you never thought possible." Iverson threatened.

"McClain, oh you wound me Iverson." Lance let a smile play on his face as anger appeared on Iverson's face. Lance always had gotten under the man's skin and he was milking that to the extreme.

"So where are we? Not the Garrison and not a tent in the middle of the desert, it looks like a hospital but one that is off the record because you can't have the press hear about me suddenly being alive despite what you told them. You don't want the press and my family come barging in here do you?" Lance rambled, flexing his body as he spoke to distract.

Lance wasn't strapped down to the bed he realized as he eyed Iverson. He had fought against Shiro and Hunk enough that he knew how to use height and weight against his attacker.

"You were always a mouthy little shit McClain." Iverson gritted his teeth.

"Like I would change that, but I have picked up a few other things." Lance said calmly before he flew into action, feeling back to normal the drugs having been pumped out of his system. Lance ignored the burn of ripping the IV out of his hand, he grabbed Iverson's right arm and used that to help him swing around the older man. Once behind him Lance kept a hold on Iverson's hand and put him in a chokehold just like Shiro taught them to, Iverson thrashed and whacked his arms but Lance held strong even with his arms trembling.

Iverson stopped struggling and went limp in Lance's hold like Lance had numerous times when practicing that move with the other Paladin's. Lance lowered Iverson onto the ground and rooted around in his pockets, making a noise of triumph when he pulled out a USB.

He had no idea what was on it but most likely something important and something that might have some answers about the Kerberos mission that might be of help. Lance sighed as he noticed he was in one of those open back hospital gowns, his flight suit missing.

Lance scanned the room and spotted the edge of his flight suit sticking out of a hazardous waste bag. Lance made an offended noise but quickly tugged it on; it was a bit more difficult than normal without the Altean tech helping them. He managed it and Iverson was still down for the count so Lance pocketed the USB and slid out of the room, the halls were deserted and looked very much like a bomb shelter that was repurposed as a secret hospital.

Lance stuck to the walls and headed towards the first set of double doors he spotted, luck was not on his side as said doors burst open and a squad of soldiers poured out, Iverson must have hit some sort of panic button before he passed out.

"Ah Quiznack." Lance groaned as he dropped into a fighting stance. He didn't even get to through one punch before a Taser bit into his skin having been shot at him. Lance let out a pained cry as he sank to the ground as another Taser joined the one already attached to his skin. Lance shook under the electricity that was coursing through his body, screwing with his head and he could hear screams in his ears.

Suddenly the electricity stopped and Lance curled up in a ball his body still shaking. The building around him shook and plaster dust fell from the ceiling, Lance peered up as a gust of wind hit him square in the face.

"Hey girl." Lance smiled weakly as he stared up at where the ceiling used to be, but now was looking up into Blue's face. Her concern flowing across their connection and she let her metal jaw open. Lance blinked as a blue light covered his body and he felt himself floating upwards.

"A tractor beam, cool. Didn't know you could do that girl, wait till Pidge hears." Lance muttered absently as he floated into Blue's jaw that clicked shut once he was safely inside.

Lance could feel Blue's anger, he sent back the urge to leave and get far from the Garrison. They were just human's, Iverson was an ass but he didn't deserve Blue's anger. Blue felt like she was pouting but she fly back up into the air and took off away from the presence of the Garrison knowing that was what her Paladin wanted.

Lance smiled, sending his love to Blue who purred happily in response. Lance decided he could rest his eye for a few minutes then he would figure something out to get them back to the rest of the team.

~~/~~

Lance woke with a start when Blue landed someplace with a thud, he slowly sat up his body aching from the two Taser's he took. He stretched his arms and legs out as Blue let her jaw open so he could see where she had taken them.

"Blue… You brought me home?" Lance asked breathlessly as he stared at the familiar farmhouse in front of him. Blue purred reassuringly and Lance knew his home was far from the Garrison and it's reach. Lance recognized all the cars but three that were parked in the long winding driveway and suddenly Lance felt his heart leap up into his throat as the door opened and numerous bodies spilled out. He felt tears roll down his face and he found himself hurrying to get out of Blue's jaw and running towards the large group.

"Mama!" Lance cried as his mother Edelira 'Call me Lira' McClain wrapped her strong arms around her son with the intention of never letting go.

"Oh Hijo, my beautiful son you're alive. You're here." Lira sobbed into her son's brown hair, both of them sinking to the ground as the rest of the people reached them.

"Lance!" Learco joined the hug, not waiting to embrace his son.

"Hi Papa." Lance looked up at his father who had tears on his face, not ashamed at all.

"Big brother!" Twin voices cried as Megan and Matt, his youngest sister and brother worming their way into the hug to wrap their little arms around Lance's waist.

"Idiot." John wiped at his eyes as he stared at his little brother who looked so grown up and like he had been through so much.

"He's alive." Linda hugged her brother's waist, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes that she would refuse to say were watering up.

"He's too stubborn to die I kept telling you all that." Major grunted as he hugged Samantha to his side, the larger woman sniffing as she wiped her nose on her yellow sleeve.

"What in God's name is that?" Grandma June asked tilting her head up to look at Blue who was sitting on her haunches looking proud for reuniting her Paladin with his Earth family.

"That is a good question." Marie adjusted her glasses.

"I'm glad you got away safe Lance." Kade Kogane stepped forward when Lance was finished being passed around to his family for hugs, kisses and more tears.

"Thanks Mr. Kogane." Lance grinned when Kade handed him back his Bayard and helmet. He felt Megan tugging at his leg so he squatted down to grin at her, wincing when tears rolled down her face again.

"What's up squirt?" Lance asked ruffling her hair like he used to and she rubbed her face sniffling before answering.

"What does that do big brother?" She asked, voice shaky with emotion.

"It's something that I use to protect myself and my friends." Lance said, glancing up to the three unknown faces and he startled as he saw Pidge with long hair and a man and woman who were obviously Hunk's parents standing next to a man and woman who were a mixture of Shiro (prior Galra) staring at him with questions on their faces.

"Hunk, Shiro and Katie are alive." Lance stood up facing the other set of parents knowing what his words were about to have on them.

Colleen Holt let out a cry as she sank to the ground, hugging herself as she cried. Natia Garrett threw her arms around her husband Aaron and they both wept in relief. Natalie Shirogane slumped against Nik her husband as disbelief ran across their faces; Kade stepped next to them to offer support knowing the feeling.

Lance hurried forward, dropping to the ground and held his arms out letting Colleen slump into his arms for a much-needed hug. She reminded him so much of Pidge it was hitting Lance right in the gut and she had lost her whole family and damn this woman needed a hug.

"Where are they? Are they here?" Colleen gasped out, holding Lance tightly like if he disappeared the news about her daughter would go with him.

"No, we got separated and I ended up here by accident actually." Lance said nervously as he helped Colleen to her feet, his own mother coming to her aid, knowing Lance wanted to get his limbs back.

"We should go inside, I'm sure your starving for a good home cooked meal." Grandma June and Grandpa Max started to herd everyone towards the house. Lance looked at Blue nervous about leaving her alone out there.

"Lance?" Marie asked confused, following his line of sight up to Blue. "What is that anyways?"

"Blue Lion, she is amazing and unfortunately can't use stealth mode, no that's all Green Lion and Pidge. The particle barrier should be enough, can you do that girl?" Lance asked patting Blue's paw and he felt her rumble her agreement and said barrier formed around the two like she did it to prove a point.

"Mature." Lance laughed, patting her claws before walking through the barrier as it accepted him as Blue Lion's Paladin.

"What on Earth?" John asked as he slung his arm around his little brother's shoulder, holding him close.

"That's the point bro." Lance laughed as he allowed himself to be towed into his home knowing Blue was safe.

"Go get changed, you must be filthy." Lira shooed Lance toward the stairs to where his old room was. Lance swallowed hard at the idea of taking his flight suit off, he rather not take it off it just felt wrong.

"Leave it Mama, let's just get some food into him first." Major said as he tugged Lance towards the large dining room, pushing him lightly into a seat.

"Thanks." Lance smiled softly at his Uncle who ruffled his hair with a smile on his face and eyes glassy.

"Here we go! Eat as much as you want Lancey!" Linda walked in with plates stacked high of homemade Cuban food. Lance felt his mouth water and he dug into the food with gusto, relishing in something that wasn't space goo. Hunk worked wonders with it but actual, Earth food was like heaven with every bite.

"Hunk is going to be so jealous when I tell him about this. He hates space goo." Lance said between bites noticing his team's family was around him and he wanted to put their minds at ease.

"Space goo?" Natia asked, rubbing at her face in a way that Hunk did as well.

"It's what we eat where we are living, he is a master chef." Lance grinned thinking of his best friend.

"So he's happy?" Aaron asked hopefully, clutching his wife's hand.

"Pretty sure he is, I mean he misses Shay his alien girlfriend every so often but what can you do?" Lance shrugged, hiding a smile in his food at the looks on the Garrett's faces. He decided then that he would only speak about the good times as not to make their families worry more than already are.

"Alien girlfriend… Good for him." Aaron nodded himself, obviously trying not to focus on the 'alien' bit.

"So you meet a lot of them… Aliens?" Colleen asked, trying to hold things together.

"Oh yeah, loads! Most of the time it's just us and Allura and Coran. They are Altean royalty who had been asleep for thousands of years, we all get along really well." Lance waved his fork noticing that the rest of his family had joined them in he dining room, all eyes on him.

"Katie, well we call her Pidge is searching for her brother and father, she's very determined and totally in her domain with all the cool tech we come across. Just give her some tech she doesn't know and she is determined to learn everything about it and apply it in helpful ways." Lance smiled at Colleen letting her know his words were truthful and he blinked as she burst out into tears again.

"What about our Takashi? He is doing well then?" Natalie asked clutching Nik's hand tighter, finally having found the courage to ask about her son they both thought were dead.

"He is our leader, he's the glue that keeps us together and mostly sane. Shiro is the best and yeah he has some issues but he's working past it. He is the head after all." Lance chuckled at the inside joke he made much to everyone else's confusion. He did reach across to pat Mrs. Shirogane's hand knowing that they had thought their son was dead for months. Natalie gripped Lance's hand tightly while nodding, words escaping her while Nik kissed her head.

"That is our Shiro, born leader that one." Nik said pride evident in his emotionally charged voice.

"Keith, is he doing well?" Kade asked, looking nervous at the answer.

"He's always so broody, but he's a great fighter and he is happy that he is back with Shiro. He is a skilled pilot, the best one we've got as much as I hate to admit it even though he still wears a mullet." Lance rolled his eyes as he thought of the Red Paladin and his mullet; Kade suddenly got a fond and far away look in his eyes.

"Just like his mother then." He muttered, Lance wanted to ask about that but Megan climbed her way onto Lance's lap making his redirect his attention to her as he hugged her close like he used to.

"Do the others have giant kitties like the one you have?" She asked curiously as Lance ran his fingers through his hair absently undoing her braid to redo it.

"Lion Meggie, and yes they do. They all look different, mine is Blue Lion and she's amazing and the right leg. Hunk has one called Yellow Lion who bulker and obviously Yellow, she is the left leg. He doesn't even throw up when he is flying her and that is saying something am I right?" Lance grinned Hunk's parents who smiled wobbly knowing full well how their son was when it came to air travel.

"Pidge has the Green Lion who is small and thanks to adjustments made by Pidge herself can turn indivisible it's pretty wicked, Green Lion is the left arm" Lance grinned when Megan gave a little gasp at something turning invisible while Colleen smiled through her tears knowing that was exactly something her daughter would do.

"Keith has the Red Lion who is the fastest out of all the Lions and the right arm. While Blue Lion can breathe ice, Red Lion can breathe fire!" Lance blew out his breath loudly to give affect to his words making his younger siblings gasp and giggle.

"Shiro pilots the Black Lion who has wings, at least we're pretty sure they are wings. Anyways Black Lion is the head and together we form Voltron! A giant robot who is the defender of the universe!" Lance said proudly, giving sound affects to make his siblings happy but he could tell the older people in the room could understand the meaning of his words.

"Defender of the universe? What does that mean big brother?" Matt asked tugging his left arm, fingers clutching at his armor.

"It means that there are a lot of people out there that need us, Voltron to stand up for them when they can't. Think of Voltron like the police force of the universe." Lance ruffled Matt's hair making him pout as he tried to fix his hair; ah he was getting to that age then.

"Does that mean your not going to stay? Because you have people to protect?" Megan asked looking up at him with wide eyes and Lance could feel his family hold their breath.

"…Yeah Meggie that's what it means." Lance swallowed hard, hating that he could feel his family's sadness from his words but he knew in his heart that this was the right choice. 

"Oh okay." Megan fiddled with her newly braided hair trying to understand.

"When do you have to go?" John asked breaking the silence first, giving Lance an understanding look.

"Soon, if I stay here too long I might draw unwanted attention to Earth and we can't have that." Lance said lifting Megan up off his lap and onto the ground as he stood up patting his stomach.

Lance heard a buzzing noise from his helmet that he had placed down and he darted around his family members to grab it. He pulled it onto his head and listened closely.

"Watch-Shiro-move-dodge—Hunk-on-left-hurry-back around-lance-protect-find him before-ah!" Lance gritted his teeth at the broken up transmission like Blue was trying to reach the others but they were too far away.

"They are in trouble, I have to leave now." Lance tugged the helmet off his head, looking at the gathered families with a stabbing feeling in his heart.

"You have a good heart Hijo, you will always have a home here my beautiful boy." Lira palmed Lance's face before pulling him into another tight hug. Lance swallowed a sob and nodded into her neck, inhaling her scent of home. Lance was then passed around the room for hugs from every person there, more tears were shed and Lance had to tell them soothing things that he hoped helped. Hunk and Shiro were always better with words in these sort of situations.

"We uh actually have some things we would like for you to give to our kids, if that is alright." Colleen held up a worn backpack, the other parents doing the same.

"Of course it is, but why do you have these ready?" Lance accepted as they left the house as unit towards where Blue was resting, eyes glowing yellow as she recovered her strength.

"When Kade told us he made contact with you, we hoped that you might be able to pass these one at some point to our children." Aaron explained as Lance was passed around once more for hugs, none of them looked happy about Lance disappearing once again but they understood they wouldn't be able to stop him.

"It just has some clothes, food, books, personal belongings that we want them to have." Nik explained as they set the bags down by Lance who picked them up. He touched the barrier around Blue and loaded them into her open jaw when she lowered her head down for him to do so. He smiled at the group who had moved closer, eyes wide as they looked at Blue Lion in amazement.

"I'm sure they will love it, thank you." Lance said honestly, noticing one of his old bags was among them.

"No thank you Lance, you have given us something we had started to loose. Hope and now we know they will come back to us." Natalie wiped her eyes as she and Colleen hugged each other in silent support.

"We will do our best to come home together." Lance swore, more intent on coming back to Earth in one piece once they dealt with the Galra.

"That's is all we ask." Kade nodded at Lance who nodded back glad he counted a bag for Keith. Hopefully it held some answers for the sword wielder.

"I better be off, I cant leave them in trouble for long. They would be lost without me." Lance grinned making his family chuckle. He took one long look at the gathered families; he swallowed hard as he tugged his helmet back on. He adjusted his Bayard on his hip before looking at his family and then up towards the sky where his other family was waiting and he knew he had made the right choice.

"Well, I'm off!" Lance gave them thumbs up as he walked into Blue's waiting jaw, feeling her purring in the back of his mind.

He heard numerous shouts and cheers from the others before Blue snapped her jaw shut and rose back up from the ground. The screens coming back to life around Lance when he took a seat in the pilot chair.

"Alright girl, let's go save our family." Lance said aloud as he adjusted the thrusters, he watched the families back up as Blue rose up into the sky. Blue let out a roar Lance's own emotions echoing in the sound before she turned around, tail wagging happy to be flying again as she shot off into the sky.


End file.
